


In the Woolshed

by girloftheq (qthelights)



Category: Ned Kelly (2003)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-06-17
Updated: 2003-06-17
Packaged: 2017-10-30 07:17:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/329184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qthelights/pseuds/girloftheq





	In the Woolshed

It was fucking hot.

Joe wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand, wiped the back of his hand on his shorts. Fuck.

It wasn’t worth the money they were being paid, the long days in the stifling humidity of the shed. Bloody blowflies as big as yer eye constantly buzzing around your head, getting in your eyes. Better not open your mouth long.

Aaron stood next to him in just his shorts. He’d taken his singlet off hours ago and the sweat was making his chest shine. Joe wanted to take his shirt off too. But his chest was nowhere near as defined as Aaron’s, though maybe as tanned. Aaron had grown a lot over the last couple o’ months but Joe was still skinny. He’d feel like a ninny next to his friend. Probably be called one for thinking about it.

“Eh, Byrne!” came the sharp admonishment from Ned Kelly’s pa. “Pay attention or you’ll not be gettin’ yer pay.”

“Yes sir,” he answered, annoyance kept in check. He turned and dutifully accepted the huge pile of fleece from Aaron, his cheeks flushing slightly at the cocky grin that emerged from behind the wool. 

“Shut up ya lout,” he muttered, hauled the wool into the back room and flung it over the racks.

He’d smell like bloody sheep all week. Lanolin invading his pores and nostrils, clinging to his hair and making his hands oily as all hell.

Back into the main room and back to Aaron’s side. He noticed Ned watching him from the far corner where he stood with one of his brothers. Odd. Then again, he didn’t know him much… maybe he was funny in the head or sumthin’.

“We ought to be getting’ paid more,” Aaron muttered to him under the noise of the bleating beasts as he dragged another fleece as the men shorn it off.

“Too effin’ right,” he muttered back as he took the fleece from Aaron, trudged into the back for the hundredth time.

Nowhere near as much as they should be getting for such hard labor he thought. But still, any money was useful. And with it he could buy things that he could trade for much more. That was his plan anyway. Could get some buttons or ribbons or sumthin’ and give ‘em to Molly Douglas for a peek at her whatsits. That’d be worth the hell of the day, he thought.

The back room was even hotter than the front, dust was floating in the late afternoon sunbeams coming through the windows and it danced around erratically as he moved the air in the musty room.

Aaron joined him, hauling in more wool. 

“S’a dead lot. More coarse shit. Seems a lot this year,” Aaron said knowledgeably, as if he gave a shit about it. It was all show. “The machines broke again. Get’s us a break.”

“Bout time,” Joe answered and fell into the pile of no good wool that Aaron was adding too in the corner. Fuck yeah. That was good.

Aaron fell in next to him. All heat and sweat, his blonde hair sticking to his forehead. They stuck their legs out in front of them and sank further into the wool. It was hot. But more comfortable than anything else they’d get to sit their bums on.

“The other lads are goin’ down to the river afterwards. You coming?” Aaron asked him, eyes closed.

If Aaron was going then he wanted to go. Things were fun with Aaron. 

“Yeah, nuthin’ better to do.”

They fell into silence, listening to the men swearing out the front, banging away at the shears to get ‘em to work. Outside kookaburras and galahs were callin’ loudly before dusk came to shut them up.

“Whatcha gonna spend yer pay on?” Aaron asked, opening his eyes and lookin’ at him out of the corners.

“Molly,” Joe answered with a grin.

“Molly,” Aaron confirmed his own plans with an answering grin.

They paused, thinking of the treasure awaitin’ them.

“You know, though,” Aaron said, voice lowering into a conspiratorial whisper and eyes sparkling, “I heard from Dan Kelly that there’s a girl over the way, Jenny someone or other who’ll even let ya touch hers for a quid.”

Joe laughed, “How would Dan Kelly know, he wouldn’t even know what a girl had under her shirt yet.”

Aaron shrugged, not letting logic spoil his news, “Maybe he heard it from Ned or sumthin’”

“Maybe,” Joe pondered. Interesting if it were true. Some things might even be worth saving for.

“There’s more though,” Aaron continued, leaned in closer, “Dan reckons there’s a boy down in Beechworth who kisses other lads.”

“Effin hell,” Joe whispered, and they both paused to think about it. “Why would he want to do that for d’you s’pose?” Joe finally asked.

“Buggered if I know. Seems a damn strange thing to do if you ask me.”

Joe nodded in agreement. It did.

“D’ya s’pose it’s different from kissin’ a girl?” he asked, though he’d never kissed a girl before. He pretended to Aaron that he had though. Aaron had kissed three girls already. Or so he said anyways.

“Dunno,” Aaron said, “You’d think it would be. Men are tough and stuff. Probably be all hard.”

And then Aaron said something strange. He turned to Joe, and hesitated, and then said “D’ya wanna try it, just as an experiment like?”

Joe was struck dumb. Aaron wanted to do… _that_?

“Wouldn’t mean we were fairies like,” Aaron added in a hurry. “’Cause yer only a fairy if you like it mind.”

“That’s true,” Joe finally said, watching his mate with a new kind of wonder. “S’pose it’d be alright then and stuff.”

Aaron grinned, half cockiness, half something else…maybe nervousness Joe thought.

“Well let’s have at it then,” Aaron said and leaned in to Joe.

He felt Aaron’s face come near him, could feel the heat radiating off him and the smell of wool and salt. And then he felt Aaron’s mouth on his. His lips were rough, cracked from the sun.

So he kissed him back, started when Aaron’s mouth opened and he felt his tongue against his own lips. Aaron was wrong though. It wasn’t rough and manly. Aaron’s tongue was soft against his, and his lips seemed to meld into his own.

But almost as soon as they’d started Aaron pulled back.

Joe stared at him, curious, but trying not to show it.

Aaron grinned and nodded his head in the direction of the main room. “They got ‘em going again.” And sure enough Joe realized the loud buzz of the shears was filling the air. He hadn’t even noticed.

“We ought to try that again later,” Aaron said seriously. “Just to give it a real go and all. See what all the fuss is about”

“Too right,” he confirmed. “Gotta do it right and all.” Though he thought they’d had a pretty good go at it then. At least the tugging in his pants seemed to attest to the fact.

He thought perhaps that he ought to be embarrassed about that or somethin’. What was he? A _girl_? Getting’ hot and bothered by _Aaron_.

They got up, hitting the dust and bits of wool off their shorts and legs. Made to head back out to the work.

“Then we ought to go see ‘ol Moll,” Aaron winked at him. They passed into the main room where the men were rounding the sheep in again.

“Hell yeah,” Joe grinned back at him.

He wasn’t sure which thing he was looking forward to. 

Best not to think about it probably.


End file.
